Untouchable
by Oliver Pierce
Summary: Inquisitor Lent Arnum and his retinue are sent to Statin IV under cover to oversee the purity of the Imperial liberating army. Better summary to come as story unfolds. Please review, criticism welcomed.


Chapter 1

Mining Hive Ferrus Primus, Statin IV

Lent surveyed the city below him, watching the masses of Imperial guardsmen go about their work, moving supplies, and fortifying the ruined city that they had captured during the day. Makeshift barricades were being thrown together on the main roads entering the city, consisting of pieces of black stone and scrapped metal. Specially outfitted labour sentinels moved the remains of the armoured assault earlier, Smoldering Leman Russ battle tanks and wrecked Chimeras armoured transports. The reinforcements are moving into position to repel the expected counter attack.

Before the attack, the initial Imperial bombardment had severed oil and water pipelines. At many places, guardsmen were knee deep in foul liquid. Simple tasks were made into grueling affairs, and complicated ones, impossible. Everything was moving very slowly, and everyone was covered in filth. They were the lucky ones.

Then there were the unlucky ones: those who had the job of carrying the dead, both Imperial and Chaos, and those who were dying. Lord General Drake ordered all bodies to be removed from the streets and dumped in unused pit mines around the city. This proved to be a horrible idea, since several guardsmen have already succumbed to seizures upon touching the bodies of the enemy, adding to the already large number of wounded. Triage stations were set up in the few relatively intact buildings, and screams of agony could be heard when Lent was standing.

"That was one bumpy ride; I felt like the crate of rations I was strapped to." Draco said, stepping onto the roof of the ruin, but keeping a fair distance from Lent.

Lent sighed, and draped the Arcanum cloak tighter around him. The Imperial commanders were not to know that the Ordo Hereticus was watching them. His team had come down in a cargo drop ship when the second wave of Imperial Guards made planet fall. Every bone in his body ached; surprisingly, he was still in one piece.

"Why are we here anyway? There might be psykers in the guard, but the way things are going, they'd be dead by tomorrow anyway." Draco said dismissively, trying to make conversation. Lent turned and looked at him; he gave up and walked off.

The Waylen Crusade was met with unexpected high rates of casualties, forcing Warmaster Bane to hastily put together regiments from the newly liberated worlds. One of these regiments was the Vanderlan 1st, a bunch of rabble from a world tainted with warp energy. Though none of them has manifested any powers, one can never be too careful, as Lent had been taught.

He heard another set of footsteps, this time very heavy, and turned. Orsus walked onto the roof, his cloak barely hiding his servo-harness, even when fully retracted.

"Here is the after action report you wanted, Inquisitor Arnum." Orsus said, handing Lent a set of data slates. Though Orsus is a member of Lent's retinue, he was able to join Lord General Drake's staff, claiming to be a representative of the Adeptus Mechanius. Lent turned to the first of the data slates.

The Imperial army attacked at dawn, after three hours of bombardment and Bombing runs. The Cadian 401st armoured company and the Armageddon 27th Mechanized regiment led the attack. They rolled through an area of relatively open ground into the city to find it seemingly deserted, until the first tank hit a mine, carefully concealed amongst the rubble. Then everything went to hell. Chaos Rhino armoured transports bearing the green colour scheme and hydra of the Alpha Legion came up behind the vanguard, cutting them off from their infantry support following behind. Chaos cultists poured out of the ruined buildings, with melta-bombs strapped to them, and bodily charged the Imperial vehicles. Though many were cut down by the fire from the tanks and Chimeras, a large number were still able to achieve their goal. The Cadian 401st lost half of their tanks in the first attack. The Armageddon guardsmen disembarked and were immediately pinned behind their transports by lasgun fire coming from the surrounding buildings.

On the other side of the Chaos Rhinos, the Chaos Marines also disembarked under cover of smoke, and caught the Imperial Infantry out in the open. Several newly founded regiments routed under the large volume of bolter fire, but did not get very far; most were shot by their own commissars. The veterans from the Mordian 8th and Cadian 101th following behind went to grounds and returned fire. The Tanks of the Cadian 401st that survived the initial attack turned around in hopes of destroying the Rhino barrier and relieving the Infantry. But his exposed their rear armour, making them easy picking for Missiles and lascannons hidden in the ruins. The entire company was decimated, leaving the still pinned Armageddon regiment without support.

To prevent the imminent defeat, Lord General Drake ordered renewed bombing and strafing runs. The Imperial Lightning fighters attacked the Alpha Legion Rhinos, and were successful in crippling and destroying a few. The rest of them retreated, taking the barely scratched Chaos Marines with them. At around the same time, the Chaos infantry within the city also melted away. Harried by the Imperial fighters, they moved along the gaps between mines on the other side of the city and got into the cover of the surrounding boulder fields. The remaining members of the Imperial vanguard were left bewildered and disoriented. Unfortunately, the marauder bombers were not informed in time, and continued with their bombing run, resulting in mostly Imperial casualties.

Lent looked up from the last data slate, and shook his head. The Imperial commanders and tacticians are good, but they are not Alpha Legion.

"Drake has ordered the city searched for any remaining enemies, but I am guessing they won't find any." Orsus added. " The Imperial army lost a major portion of the first wave and now, we are sitting ducks in this place, crowded and vulnerable. Seems to me like a really bad situation."

"Hive Ferrus Primus is an important target in this campaign." Lent said, knowing that Orsus is right, and the cost of taking the city was probably too high. "The mines around this city, once made operational again, will be able to provide the materials to fix the fleet and replace a lot of the lost vehicles. And there is also Warmaster Bane's order: purge Statin IV of all Chaos filth." Orsus opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short by another member of Lent's retinue coming onto the roof.

"'Why am I wearing this thing, it is heavy and awful. Lent, remind me again why we have to hide from them?" Snow asked, trying to stuff all of her white hair underneath her oversized cloak. Though she looked no older than seven, not even Lent could fathom her origin or age; he just knows one thing about her, she is immune to the effects of his condition.

"You know why, Snow, you were at the briefing. Without these cloaks, any psykers within the army would be able to sense our presence, especially yours. If there are any psykers, I'd like to catch them unaware and redhanded." Lent replied patiently. There is no other way with Snow.

"Why are you worried then? Oh yeah, without this cloak, you'd stick out like where a sore thumb should be." Snow laughed at her own wittiness, and then walked away. Lent shook his head again, and resumed watching the guardsmen underneath. True, He wasn't worried about the discovery of his presence by the psykers, but the discovery of a lack thereof. He has no presence in the Warp...


End file.
